Prelude to Understanding
by kabukimono
Summary: As they travel together, Edea and Ringabel find that they come to an understanding at odd moments. Over many worlds, even many lives. Lovers, friends, whatever they are, they know that the other is there. A collection of Ringabel/Edea pieces from various moments and various worlds.
1. Payment for Services Rendered

**This story is going to be a collection of smaller, _mostly_ unrelated Ringabel/Edea pieces. I have been posting them in the same way to AO3, and figured that in the spirit of _not_ flooding the front page with 1-2k words fanfics, I would just post everything as chapters! Please favorite/follow/review, because I will post frequently AND since I'm trying to do at least something a day, I'm very open to requests!**

 **Assume all pieces have spoilers for Bravely Default, but I will warn for Bravely Second spoilers as chapters contain them!**

 **This is for** safe **for work, at most fade-to-black pieces. Anything else is posted on AO3.**

* * *

There were some things Edea did not want to see.

A naked Ringabel in the restroom, even just "mostly-naked", was pretty high on the list. It was right below "inside of a human body", but higher than "the oozing corpse of a gigantic moth". What was also alarming about this mostly naked Ringabel was that his hair was wet and loose, draping around his face and neck, allowing water droplets to cascade down his bare chest and sides, catching the light in their movement.

Also, he was holding a knife in his hand.

"What are you doing?" she asked, not sure if she should be massively concerned for his safety or massively concerned for her own.

"Ah, Edea!" he said, smiling widely at her, as though he wasn't shirtless with a blade dangerously close. "I was just trying to trim my hair."

"… with a knife?" Ringabel had some dumb ideas, but this one was a lot, even for him.

He huffed, and set the knife down, looking slightly shamed. "It isn't ideal, I admit it. But Tiz has hidden my scissors away. Something about making sure I didn't use them on him."

Okay, that she could see. Tiz was very touchy when it came to his hair. "But why a knife?"

"It's the sharpest one that the Proprietress owns," he tried to defend his idiocy. "I thought it would do the job just fine. It's only a trim!"

"You can't use a knife to trim your hair, Ringabel. It just doesn't work well." Not that she knew from experience from the time she had borrowed her father's sword to give Alternis a haircut. It had not gone well. They had both ended up grounded for weeks.

Ringabel sighed, looking down at the floor. "Then, perhaps you can talk to Tiz? I tried to assure him that if he would relinquish the scissors, I wouldn't go after him this time! He refuses to tell me where they are."

It was Edea's turn to sigh. "Can't you just go buy another the next time we're in town?"

"We won't get to Ancheim for another few days," he replied. "I wanted to get it taken care of tonight. The split ends might ruin my hair otherwise!" He pouted at her, his eyes wide.

He was being dramatic and a big baby about it all. "Your hair will survive until we land," she tried to tell him, but when he lifted a hand to run it through his light locks sadly, she had to give in. She couldn't let him hurt himself with a knife, or do some real damage to his hair that might actually make him upset. She hated it when he was upset.

"You can borrow my scissors," she told him.

"You have scissors?" He straightened up to look at her, hazel eyes blinking in astonishment.

"Uh, yeah? I sew in my free time, Ringabel. Of course I have a pair of scissors. Tiz does too, I'm sure." Though Tiz was likely hiding his pair of scissors away from Ringabel anyway. She also thought it likely that the Proprietress had kitchen scissors, but no one wanted hair in their food, so that was also not an option to suggest right now. "Put a shirt on and come with me."

Ringabel did not put on a shirt. Instead, he slung a towel over his shoulders and followed her to the room she shared with Agnès. She wasn't sure if she really wanted a partially naked Ringabel in her room, before ultimately deciding that she could take him out, if she had to. Besides, Ringabel was harmless. Just a little helpless.

She dug her scissors out of the sewing kit shoved into her side of the closet, and offered them to him handle out. He took them from her.

"Thank you Edea," he said, smiling at her. With his hair curling around his chin and the towel only barely covering his chest, he looked more handsome than usual, almost disturbingly attractive. Not for the first time, she thought it ironic that one person could be so good looking, yet off putting at the same time.

"Are you sure you can handle this?" she asked him, as he examined the pair of scissors she'd handed him. "I don't want blood on those when they're returned."

"I would rinse them off," he pointed out.

She rolled her eyes. "Ringabel… alright, I changed my mind. Hand them over."

"What?" He clutched the scissors to his chest, hiding them under the towel. "You can't just… take them back!"

"They're mine!" she argued, and considered if she was feeling up to trying to wrestle a pair of sharp scissors from him. Then, she threw up her hands. "I'll cut your hair for you, if only you give them back."

He paused. "You would?"

She was going to regret this, she could already tell. "Yes, I will. Besides, how were you planning on getting the back of your head? You can't see any split ends there."

Ringabel went quiet. "I was just going to trim it," he finally admitted. "That would have taken care of all the split ends."

"And risk cutting off length you didn't mean to? Ringabel… don't be dumb." He was bravely stupid, she would give him that. When she held her hand out once more, he reluctantly placed the scissors in it.

Brandishing the scissors in his direction, she made him drag a chair into the restroom and sit down in it, facing away from her. She stood behind him, observing his hair as she brushed it out carefully with a comb to get out any tangles. It was nearly dry now, and more than a little fluffy.

"I think you have a couple of gray hairs here," she teased him.

He sat up straight so that he could look at her, astonished, through the mirror. "I do not!" he gasped. "You take that back."

"How would you know? You can't see the back of your head." She grinned at his reflection. "So, a trim, right? How about we cut your hair to look like Tiz's?"

"Please don't joke about that," he said, and she could detect a hint of true irritation in his voice. So Ringabel was touchy when it came to his hair, beyond just how particular he was with styling for it. Alright, so she'd better be nice. She could understand him wanting to take care of his looks.

"Alright, alright." She'd back down. Teasing wasn't any fun if she actually upset him. "Just a trim, Ringabel. Maybe no more than an inch? It's getting so long, you could put it in a ponytail if you'd like!"

"I can't have a ponytail and a pompadour, that's a bit of overkill, isn't it?" he replied. "An inch is fine."

There was probably a joke somewhere, something about men not knowing the true value of an inch, but Edea paid that thought no mind as she carefully began to trim his hair. It was easy, despite how light and hard to see the strands were. Using the blade of the scissors, she could see any split ends that he did have, but mostly just focused on straightening out the length in the back. Judging by how uneven some of it was, had he attempted to cut his own hair before?

After the back was neat, she moved around to his front. Here, he also wanted no more than an inch, and she could see him watching her every move. She wasn't so cruel as to give him a terrible haircut, at least not this time. As she moved away from each section, he would take some in his fingers to examine it.

"Do I really have gray hairs?" he asked her. His voice was strangely sad.

"It's really hard to tell with your hair color," she pointed out. His hair looked almost silver in all but the brightest light, and not for the first time, she wondered if it was his natural hair color or not. She'd never see him with dye, but one never knew. "Why?"

"It's not dyed," he said, as if he'd read her mind. That was a creepy thought. "I just thought, that if perhaps I'm graying already, I may be older than I thought."

She sighed to herself. Ringabel had still not confronted his past, though everyone was beginning to suspect the truth behind who he really was. As far as she was aware, his memories had yet to fully return, though he had begun to complain of headaches lately, and flashes of bright light. If he was who she thought he was, then he wasn't very much older… and if he was who she thought he was, his hair had been this color since he was a boy. Probably not dyed, then.

"You're not going gray," she said to him, snipping off a particularly frazzled section of hair. "You look fine."

"Do you truly think so?" he asked her, and she pondered on her next words. She had to tread carefully, especially when he sounded so hopeful. She didn't have it in her to be mean right now.

"It's a unique hair color, that's all. But it looks nice. It fits you well, no matter your age.." That… probably worked.

He smiled warmly at her from underneath the hair she was trimming. "Thank you, my dear."

When she finished up, Ringabel examined the strands of hair that he could see, before sweeping it all back away from his eyes. He brushed the trimmings from his shoulders and shook out the towel over his shoulders.

"Well?" she asked him, watching him fuss into a handheld mirror. "What do you think?"

"I think it looks perfect," he said to her, his smile wide enough to highlight his white teeth, gleaming even in the dim light. "Edea, you are a lifesaver. Thank you."

"You're welcome," she said. "That will be 40 pg, please."

"… what?"

"You didn't think I was doing it for free, did you?" she asked him, and watched his smile fall, his eyes go wide. "40 pg. Or… you could take me out to eat a chocolate crepe when we land in Ancheim." Which was worth more than 40 pg, but he didn't have to know that.

He recovered swiftly. "Crepe it is!" he declared, catching on. "It's a date."

"Payment for services rendered," she corrected him.


	2. I'm Home

He's tired.

By this point, he has been awake for a solid three days, surviving only off strong coffee and the hope ever present in his chest. It's the hope that makes his weary feet move forward as he trudges through the heavy snow toward Central Command. He wants to see her as soon as he can, and it had been for that reason that he had requested to be sent to Eternia the minute that his last assignment and thus his job, was finished.

The guards at the door look at him, and one immediately runs inside to send a message up to the top of the tower as he struggles to climb the stairs.

A figure in black armor stands in the doorway when he finally makes it to the very top.

"Why are you here?" Alternis Dim demands, voice full of rage. "Do you have any idea how long it has been?!"

"I do," Ringabel says simply, because he knows it has been far too long, so many years and months that he's been dreaming about the moment he could see her again. "I'm back."

He gives Alternis no choice but to move out of his way, steadfast in his steps that are wavering now that his goal is so close. He makes it all the way to the elevator with Alternis following up, the other man's anger radiating off him in waves.

Then the elevator comes down and Ringabel stops in his tracks. His pack falls to the ground.

Edea steps out of the elevator, her chin high and her eyes staring at him with such emotion that it nearly kills the remaining hope in his chest. She's angry, and she has every right to be, and he opens his mouth to say something - anything - but all that comes out is a croak of her name. She hasn't gotten any taller, but she's dressed in the full armor of the Templar Asterisk, all hard edges and thick planes that make her look strong and lovely, and he remembers why he fell in love with her.

"Well?" she demands of him, hands on her hips. Her back is tall and her voice sharp, but he can see the way her lip trembles, even from here. "What do you have to say for yourself?

"I," he starts, and then he's falling to his knees because he's _tired_. He's tired and he's finally seen her, and the feeling that floods through him now is more exhausting than his three-days-and-counting of staying awake. "I'm home," he manages to say.

She lowers her hands from her hips and starts forward.

It's only when he presses his face into her stomach that he realizes that he's started crying, hot tears smearing across the metal of the plates that he pays no mind to. Her hands are rough as they run through his tangled hair, but it's soothing all the same, and when she tugs his head back he looks up into blue eyes that are stormy and wet and the most beautiful things he's ever seen.

"I'm home," he whispers again to her behind the curtain of her long, blonde hair hanging over them.

She takes a deep, trembling breath, and those eyes soften. A tear splashes onto his face, mingling with his own. Her hands are warm on his cheeks. "Welcome home."


	3. A Beautiful Day

It was bright and sunny. The air smelled clean, heavy with the scent of flowers and fresh water. A slight breeze brushed at the hem of Edea's skirt, blew her hair about into her face. With a sigh, she turned her face into the wind and closed her eyes.

Ringabel noticed. "Are you quite alright, Edea?"

"Yeah," she replied dreamily. Her skin was being warmed nicely by the sun's rays, but the wind kept everything cool enough that it wasn't overly hot. "You?"

"I'm fine, so long as I can be with you," he answered, as though the response was rehearsed. Knowing him, she thought, he probably did rehearse some of his pickup lines in a mirror. That was to be expected with him.

Agnès had just finished awakening the Water Crystal, again, and needed some rest before she would be ready to move on. Tiz had decided to stay up on Grandship to spend time with her while she rested, and /Edea/ had decided she wanted to spend a nice day outside, in the flowers. With the Water Crystal awoken, it wouldn't be long before rains would start, and she'd wanted to see the flower gardens in the sunshine.

Ringabel, of course, had offered to escort her.

She hadn't even bothered correcting his word usage. Today was too nice a day to argue with Ringabel.

He had brought a blanket and a basket of food along with them, since she had toyed around with the idea of a picnic, but as he rolled it out, Edea decided that a bed of flowers would be much comfier to lie in. She threw herself back into them, laughing gleefully as she sank into the softness of the petals and moss.

After a few moments, she felt a shadow fall over her, blocking the sun's warm rays.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Ringabel asked her, sounding amused.

"Very much so," she replied, and couldn't help the way the corners of her lips quirked up. "Even with my present company."

"Haha," he said, not bothered at all by her sarcasm, and she could feel him settling down into the flowers beside her. Things were quiet for a few blissful moments until he spoke again. "It's a nice day."

"It is," she agreed. A nice day, and with Ringabel behaving and keeping his inappropriate comments a minimum, it might even be a very nice day. He had only made a crack once in regards to the flowers blooming, but the punch she'd given his arm had hopefully been forceful enough to keep him in line.

They lay there in silence, soaking up the sunshine together. Florem's environment was great. Given that Ancheim and Eisenberg were too hot, too dry, and Eternia was far too cold, she had always liked how pleasantly warm Florem was, even if it all the humidity left her hair a mess.

But now the breeze was bringing with it a chill, heavy water on the horizon. Edea cracked an eye open to look at the sky. It was still blue and clear, but the heaviness in the air meant that a storm would be coming soon… maybe.

She rolled over to look at Ringabel and ask if he wanted to eat now, or if he wanted to get closer to Grandship and eat. The ship was visible on the horizon, but if the skies opened, they would have to run for it. One look at him though, and she shut herself up, words dying in her mouth.

His eyes were still closed, his face peaceful, as he lounged on his back, arms folded under his head. For once, there were no worry lines in his face, not even the most minute of creased between his dark eyebrows. Was he asleep, she wondered, or just feeling so at peace that he'd finally managed to relax? Despite all his flippant words, she couldn't remember the last time he'd look so serene.

Curiously, she moved closer to him, wondering if he'd notice the movement of the flowers and… no, Ringabel didn't react at all even when she laid her head on his shoulder, her hand settling against his chest. For a few moments, she enjoyed the heat of both the sun and of Ringabel right beside her, sleeping peacefully. It was nice, spending time with him like this, especially when he was quiet. She tried to close her eyes to take a nap as well, but when she stretched out her legs to get comfortable, she nudged him right in the side.

He startled awake. Guilt gnawed at her stomach. Everyone knew that Ringabel's rest was plagued with disturbances and terrible dreams, and that he needed as much of it as he could get to stay useful to them. "What is it?" he asked, voice thick. He lifted a hand from the grass to stifle a yawn; grass was stuck to it and fluttered down on him with the movement.

Edea propped herself up on an elbow just enough to look down at him. He must have been very tired if he didn't make a single crack about her being so close. Hey, it wasn't like she hadn't cuddled with any of her friends before. Ringabel never minded if she needed some physical contact, but he usually said something weird. Now, he was… being very well-behaved.

"Are you okay?" she asked him again. Come on, Ringabel… say something!

"I'm quite alright," he told her, and then he flashed her an all-too-familiar smile, all teeth and dimples. "Even better now that our bodies are as connected as our hearts."

"They're hardly connected right now," she said, and realized when his eyebrows shot up that she may have inadvertently given him more fuel than ever to be a pervert.

"Ah, you may be right. They could be, though," he said to her, grinning.

Edea took a deep breath and wondered if she could get a really good punch into his stomach from his angle. Then, she decided to make him squirm instead. "Could they be?" she asked him, playing dumb. "How?"

Ah-hah. Immediately, Ringabel flushed red, and his smile fled, along with his wannabe-Casanova air. She could /see/ the lost, awkward part of him come out to play. She loved seeing it. "W-well, I - if you don't know, then… no, you can forget I said anything at all, Edea."

"No, really," she pushed him."Tell me. How?" They were so close, Edea still half-draped on him, that she could feel his heart pounding with anxiety.

"Edea," he groaned. "Please forget about it."

"I won't. You said they could be connected better. Come on, Ringabel. Don't leave me in suspense." She was going to tease him until he broke, begged her forgiveness, and promised not to say perverted things again, at least not if he couldn't follow through!

Ringabel rolled over with a whine, away from her and so that he could bury his red face into the flowers. Edea immediately pounced on him, holding him down.

"It's not important," he said, voice strained not just with embarrassment but also because of weight on his chest. She climbed to sit on his back.

"So… why bring it up at all?" she prodded him. Her hands dug into his back, even pounding lightly at it.

"I confess, I wasn't thinking," Ringabel said, grunting slightly when she hit him. "We're fine connected as we are."

He /still/ wasn't thinking, she thought. "And? How is that?"

"Our hearts. You have mine, and I hope that I have yours, if only a piece of it for now."

… she had no good response to that except a rising heat in her face. "How can you say such things so shamelessly?" she finally settled on, and pushed her hands hard into his back until she could feel his spine pop.

Ringabel took a long moment to reply, not least because she was pushing down so hard. "It might shameless, but it's true."

She should probably get off him.

She did so now, scrambling to her feet and brushing herself off. Flowers cascaded to the ground. Ringabel rolled over, then easily flipped himself up standing, using a move she knew he'd taken months to perfect, so that he'd look cool. It kind of looked cool.

"So, are you ready to eat?" he asked, sweeping flowers out of his hair.

"Yeah," she replied. It wasn't just hunger that was gnawing at her stomach, but whatever it was, food would probably help settle it all down.

And, she decided, the feeling in her stomach would also be settled down by sitting as close to Ringabel as possible, leaning against him as they enjoyed the very beautiful day.


	4. Bedside Manners

"You still have a fever," Ringabel said as he set the thermometer to the side on the table and picked up the glass of water waiting there. "You'll have to stay here for at least another day."

Edea groaned, pulling the blanket up to her chin. "It's just a slight fever, Ringabel. Come on, this is a one day sale."

He grinned down at her, offering her both the glass and two small pills, which she quickly swallowed. "Weren't you the one lecturing me just last week about taking care of myself? We'll just have to go at a later time, I'm afraid."

She grumbled at him, too sick and tired to do more than kick her feet weakly, even when he smoothed her sweat-dampened hair back from her face.

"You could go by yourself," she mumbled after a second, as Ringabel settled in the chair that had been brought up beside her bed. He could go, and then pick up the dresses she'd pointed out to him.

He looked at her over the book - a romance novel - that he'd brought from his room. "And leave you by yourself! What sort of man wouldn't nurse his beloved back to health? Besides," he added, noticing the way she rolled her eyes. "Spending time with you, even here, is time well spent." He leaned forward to plant a kiss on her forehead, taking her by surprise, and only laughed when she pushed his face away.

She was sure that some of the heat she felt on her cheeks wasn't only the fever.


	5. Lemon Water

**Caution** , this chapter contains mention of vomiting and being sick.

* * *

Edea woke up with a stomach cramp. She lay in bed for a few moments, confused as to why she was dying in the middle of the night before remembering that she had made herself a late night snack consisting of peanut butter, tuna, and ketchup … maybe the tuna had been bad? She curled up, clutching at her torso in an attempt to ride out the pain. If she could just be strong and not breathe or think or … no.

She only barely made it to the toilet.

After her stomach was emptied, she curled up on the floor and awaited death.

Ringabel poked in his head in a few minutes later. In her haste, she had left the door open. There just hadn't been time to close it before she retched, and since she was dying, she hadn't bothered to try and crawl over.

"Are you alright?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow at her prone form. "Was that you, throwing up?"

Her stomach hurt with each breath, reminding her of her sins. "No," she replied sarcastically. "That was Airy."

His nose was wrinkled at the terrible smell permeating from the room. Would Ringabel leave her alone to die in peace and indignity? Or would he continue to bother her until she died of frustration and food poisoning?

"Airy is too small to make such a mess," he commented and stepped into the room. Edea groaned. This was embarrassing enough without a witness!

He gave her a smile, and reached over to the sink, grabbing the cup on the side so that he could fill it with water. With that done, he kneeled by her, cup in hand.

"Come on," he said soothingly. "Can you sit up?"

She… wasn't sure she could. She grabbed his arm and he carefully hoisted her into a sitting position, Edea grimacing the whole time. Once she was seated, he handed her the water, which she took. He had the right idea.

"Don't bother," she groaned as he turned to grab some tissue. "Ringabel, I can clean it." There wasn't much of a mess, but it was enough that she felt true embarrassment run through her.

"It's quite alright, Edea," he assured her, rummaging under the sink for the cleaning supplies. "I don't mind. Just sip some water."

Her stomach hurt so much that she could feel her eyes tearing up. He was being very nice, even after she had spent all day teasing him for a new shirt that he'd been wearing. As he started mopping up the slight mess she made, she even began to cry silently, tears dropping down into the glass of water she'd tried to sip. It just made her feel even sicker, pain spiking in her stomach. She groaned, involuntarily retching.

He noticed quickly and took the glass from her. She grabbed his arm and used it as leverage to once again pull herself over the toilet, Ringabel holding her hair back.

"All done?" he asked her when she managed to breathe again.

No, maybe. She wasn't sure. "Yes," she decided, because she refused to get sick again, refused. She found herself leaning against him, shivering slightly. Her hair stuck to her temples with sweat - she hoped - and he pushed it back and out of the way.

"Take it easy," he told her, voice quiet and soothing. "I'll stay here as long as you need me."

"Mmkay," she sniffed, feeling like a baby. When was the last time she'd gotten this sick? It had been years and years ago; she had come down with the flu, and since her mother was ill, it was Alternis who had tried to care for her. When he fell down sick as well, her father had taken time off work to look after them both. "Thanks."

"Of course, my dear." He held her for a few moments before shifting away, reaching over to the sink so that he could wet a washcloth. Edea didn't have the energy to protest as he began to wipe her face with it, his eyes sympathetic and caring. "Food poisoning?"

"Maybe," she grumbled. Note to self, make sure tuna isn't expired before eating it! The cool of water on her face made her feel a little more alive and a little less like warmed compost.

"I figured as much," he replied, and she wanted to ask what that meant. Instead, she closed her eyes as he wiped down her face and leaned into his touch.

Her stomach hurt far too much for her to move. "Can I just stay here for a bit?" she asked him when he tried to pull her to her feet. "Just in case I throw up again." Now that her stomach was absolutely empty, she'd been able to sip down some water. That alone made her feel better and get that fuzzy taste out of her mouth.

"Surely your bed will be more comfortable than the floor," he pointed out.

"I might wake Agnes. Actually Ringabel, why were you awake?" It was pretty late, and if he had woken up, why hadn't any of the others?

"Why don't I get a blanket for you from my room, at least?" he replied, dodging her question. She didn't even have time to point that out before he ducked out of the room. Grr. He had probably already been awake, even if he was in his pajamas, plagued with some memory or bad dream or whatever he was that was going on with him now. He was being weird.

He returned in short order, dragging a blanket and a pillow and a t-shirt she knew he'd purchased once and had never worn, because Tiz had outlawed it. There was the silhouette of a bunny girl on it, one that she stared at now as he offered it to her.

"What's this for?"

"You're sweaty, and some of it got on your front," he explained patiently. "Maybe a quick shower and a change of clothes will help you feel better."

He had her there. Her clothes were gross, and she'd been wondering when she'd feel up to getting a change from her room. "Alright," she acquiesced, accepting the shirt. "But you're not going to watch me shower."

Ringabel flushed red immediately, looking away. "I would never! I'll wait in the hallway."

He did more than just wait in the hallway. By the time Edea stepped out of the shower, dried her hair off, and wiggled into the t-shirt that he provided, he had somehow found some lemon to squeeze into a fresh glass of water and procured crackers for her to nibble on. Her stomach protested painfully when she saw the food, but to her relief, that's all it did, for now.

"Thanks," she said as she took the water from him. She'd wait on the cracker. She didn't want to risk throwing up again now she was clean.

She probably didn't need to stay in the bathroom, but sipping down the water was still causing some worrying cramps, so they decided to play it safe. As Edea perched on the toilet and nursed her lemon water, Ringabel laid towels down over the damp floor before getting the blanket and pillow situation.

"You're being really nice," she observed as he coaxed her down into the warm, comfy blanket. It chased out the chill from her limbs. He didn't even make an effort to get into it with her, like she'd suspected.

"I'm always nice," he replied and settled onto the floor beside her. "I just want to look after you, that's all."

"Are you sure that's it?" she asked him, suspicious. Of course, Ringabel could be very nice when he wanted to be, but did he really have no ulterior motives? He wasn't going to ask her out on a date as repayment, he was going to try and wheedle a kiss out of her, a hug?

As if reading her mine, he wryly stated, "As much as I would love a kiss from a cute girl, you've just been sick. I'm not sure that's wise."

He had a very good point. Edea took another sip of water. "So why were you awake?"

He found the edge of the blanket very interesting suddenly, making sure that she was nice and tucked in. Edea waited until he was done fidgeting, wondering whose blanket this belonged to. Probably his, judging by the smell on the fabric. So that meant if she needed to dump the water all over it, she would… and then she wouldn't have a warm blanket to snuggle into.

As she was debating the pros and cons of this action, he spoke. "I couldn't sleep," he finally confessed. "I was writing in my journal in the lobby when I heard you throw up. I wasn't sure who it was at first, but I wanted to check."

"Oh," she said. That made sense. Tiz was sensitive to noise and light when he was sleeping, so Ringabel would have had to relocate if he wanted to stay up. He had before. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he was quick to reassure her. Never better.

She wasn't convinced, but it was obvious he didn't want to talk about it, and since her stomach was once again cramping, she wasn't sure she wanted to either. When he noticed the green in her face, he took the glass from her and pulled her out of the blanket just in time for her to hunch over the toilet.

When that little bit was done, she leaned back with a sigh against him. "Will you stay with me?" she asked, trying not to cry. She hated being sick, and she hated having to rely on him so. At least Ringabel was being nice at about it. That was the only reason she could stand it.

"I would like nothing more," he said soothingly, once more reaching for the washcloth. This time at least, it was only sweat that he had to clean from her face.

"You liar," she said. No one wanted to stay with a sick girl.

"Though I'd like it a bit better if you weren't sick," he admitted. "Perhaps next time?"

"Next time," she agreed, not sure what exactly she was agreeing to. As far as she was concerned, there had better not be a next time, at least not a next time that ended with the two of them huddling in the bathroom all night as her system purged itself of all bad tuna.

Agnes was the one who found them in the morning, the two of them having finally fallen asleep propped up against the sink, blanket tight around them both. The glass of lemon water was empty.


	6. Morning, Together

This was in response to a fluff prompt generator that said "Person A finding Person B making breakfast for them in their kitchen after a night together" or whatever, and wrote it as a modern AU instead of canon setting!

* * *

When he woke, it was to the smell of coffee, the scent strong and biting through the fogginess in his brain. Ringabel smiled slightly to himself, rolling over to bury his face into the pillow and take a deep breath of that wonderful scent. As he did so, he caught a whiff of…

Wait a moment.

Ringabel cracked open one eye to look around the room. It was familiar enough, the same room that he had lived in for months at this point, in his tiny little apartment. Against the walls were shelves piled high with books, art supplies, maps, anything he'd decided to collect. The room was messy, but it was his, and it wasn't as if anyone would see his mess, except… last night.

Lifting his head, he realized that he had been nuzzling a discarded bra, with pink lace and little white bows on it. It wasn't his bra. No, he'd helped remove this bra from–

All at once, his memories came back to him. Of the night he'd just shared with Edea. In his room. The two of them, coming back to his apartment, after a night at the club with their friends. Their lips joining and their hands fumbling, caressing each other in turn until everything had blurred together in a haze of blissful heat. Things were still a little blurry, but he was relatively sure that the two of them had joined as one, and…

He felt himself flushing, and he buried his face back into the pillow. His pillow in his very empty bed.

Wait.

Ringabel leaned back to examine the bed. Where was Edea? He very clearly remembered that she had been in bed with him last night, willingly, and he'd gone to sleep wrapped around her. There had even been a moment when he had woken up in the middle of the night as she moved around. She'd been there, he was certain of it. But now she… wasn't.

Dread filled his stomach. Of course… he knew that Edea had a busy life. She probably wanted to get back to it, without him.

Clearing his throat, he sat up on the edge of the bed and found his pants, crumpled on the floor along with his underthings. He couldn't find his shirt, no matter how much he looked. Sighing to himself, he managed to pull his clothes back on so that he could stagger out of the room and into the hallway to the bathroom.

He was still rubbing his face, gazing blearily into the mirror, when something crashed in his kitchen. He flinched.

"Hello?" he asked with a voice thick with sleep.

"Sorry!" he heard in reply, and his heart skipped a beat as he recognized the voice. It couldn't be!

Now more awake, he slid out of the bathroom and finished heading into his kitchen, where a downright mess greeted him. His apartment had never been clean but he tried to make sure it was at least tidy, and that he did his dishes before they started to smell. Now a pile filled the sink, and the stove was covered in what looked like … pancake batter?

Edea stood in front of the stove, poking a sizzling pan with a wooden spoon. He swallowed at the sight; her hair was pulled up in a messy bun just at the nape of her neck, many of the blonde strands escaping it. Her tongue stuck out in concentration. And above all, she wore only the shirt he'd been wearing the night before. It was far too big on her, and came easily to her mid-thighs and drooped off her shoulder, revealing many of the marks he'd left on her creamy skin the evening before.

His face burned as he took it all in.

Edea turned to him, looking sheepish. "I'm sorry," she said. "I meant to make you breakfast in bed, but I don't really know how to cook."

He didn't either; he knew how to make the basics so that he didn't starve himself, but he had hardly any fancy ingredients. It had taken him three months to buy spices beyond salt, pepper, and chili powder!

"It's alright," he said, coming up to her side and wrapping his arm around her so that he could try to take the wooden spoon in his hand. "Why don't I finish up for you?"

Edea all but snuggled into his side, giggling. "No, Ringabel! I'm your guest, aren't I? I'm almost finished, really. Just sit down and relax."

With his other hand, Ringabel rescued a pan of bacon that threatened to overheat and burst into flames. "Why don't we make breakfast together?" he suggested instead, as he turned the heat down. "And then we'll eat it together."

The woman flipped - attempted to flip - the pancake. Most of it oozed out of the edge of the pan to the stove below. That explained the mess. "And after that…?" She smiled up at him and his heart did a happy flip.

After that, he wanted to bathe together, or get back into bed together, and live the rest of their lives together! But he swallowed that down. "After that, we'll clean up together."

They should start with that.


	7. Confessions

**"I think I'm in love with you and I'm terrified,"** Edea said softly to Ringabel one night.

In response, the man sighed… as he rolled over to face the other direction, pulling closer the blanket she had just draped over him. When they were this far north and this high up, it was cold outside on the Grandship, and no one in their right minds would even think about sleeping outside of the toasty inn, or the even toastier pub.

But Ringabel had mentioned wanting to work on some repairs to the side of the ship while they rested up for a couple of days before finishing their trip to Eternia to awaken the Earth Crystal for the fifth time. Edea had waited for him until after Agnes and Tiz had gone to bed, and even further still as she watched the moon rise overhead, and it was only when she lost sight of it that she realized… she realized she didn't mind waiting for him for even longer, if that's what it took.

Except she also knew that knowing the idiot, he'd found a comfortable spot to have a nap, and while his jacket could keep him warm in the sun, it wasn't going to stop him from freezing his butt off at night. Someone was going to have to find him and save him from himself, and she also didn't mind having to be that person.

Armed with an extra blanket and a coat over her pajamas, she'd found Ringabel curled up in in a pile of discarded flour sacks just outside the hub, his lumber and tools nearby. It looked comfortable but cold, and at looking at his peaceful face in the moonlight, she had come to the conclusion that he could sufferjust a little, because he needed rest, and as long as he only froze his butt a little, then all would be well, right? There was no need to wake him if she could just cover him with the blanket, and with a couple more sacks that were not piled under him.

And… perhaps if she added in her own body heat? To make sure their only pilot didn't die of exposure, if course. Edea slowly reached out her hand to peel back the blanket that was against his back, only to stop when he muttered out: "I knew you'd fall for me one day." Were it not for the fact that the smile on his face was not as insufferable as it could have been, she would have accused him of being awake the entire time.

Immediately, Edea felt her face flare up hot enough that she wouldn't need to share a blanket with anyone, not even if they were camped out in the snow drifts of Eternia! Just barely holding back the urge to punch him in his stupid pretty stupid face, Edea huffed as she stood to leave him to his fate.

But not before tucking the blanket down around his feet.


	8. Mistakes

**"Hey! I was gonna eat that!"**

Edea protest hit his ears the same moment that the taste of sugar frosted sugar cubes did, and Ringabel spit out the offending item masquerading as food.

That was one way to wake up, he supposed, gagging and reaching for his coffee. He knew this, at least, was pure and unblemished, because he himself had carried it over in his favorite mug (the collector's item from Florem with the bunny girl on the side!) before sitting down and reaching for bowl in front of him, too tired to wonder why his usual seat had already been placed out with a bowl of cereal and pancakes when he had just asked for bacon and eggs.

"Well?" Edea asked impatiently as he scalded the taste away from his lips, and mouth, and tongue, and teeth, and throat. "I hope you've learned your lesson!" She sat down in the chair next to him with a harrumph, pulling her bowl closer to her. They both ignored the fine white coating of sugar that now adorned the chairs across from them. Tiz and Agnes noticed this, however, and decided to take a different table.

Ringabel nodded.

A few mouthfuls of her cereal and Edea's mood seemed to improve. She even laughed when the Proprietress called him over to pick up his real breakfast, and when he trudged back over with a plate piled high with crispy bacon and slightly-runny eggs, she only took one bite out of the eggs as he sat back down, giving him a wink as she borrowed his fork for the crime and handed it back with a flourish.

He held onto the fork for the rest of the day, until the Proprietress demanded it back.


	9. Hot and Cold

**"I thought you were dead."**

It's the first thing that she hears when she wakes, and she barely has time to retort when suddenly she's pulled up into someone's arms, and her vision is once again blacked out, this time because her face is being tucked into that person's shoulders.

Judging by the sharp smell of cologne, hair gel, and firaga from the Black Mage asterisk he'd been using, it's Ringabel. He holds her tightly, and she can feel his heart hammering through his chest and against hers as he runs his hand through her hair, tangled and sticky as it is with semi-dried blood. Actually, she finds that being held like this is really nice, especially since she remembers that she had passed out in a fight against an ice golem and fallen into a fresh drift of snow. Ringabel is nice and warm, and Edea feels the last of the chill leave her body as she closes her eyes and leans against him.

Just as she starts to move her arms to wrap them around his waist and return the hug, he pulls back, his face and eyes red.

"Sorry," he says, and he rubs furiously at his eyes. Edea pretends she doesn't see it, instead pressing her hands to his chest to get him to leech the last of his body heat into her hands. They're cold and wet with snow.

"Don't mention it," she decides, then shakes her head when he opens his mouth to argue. "Really Ringabel, don't mention it! I'm fine, aren't I? Thanks, Tiz!" she calls to the group's current White Mage, who she can see standing over Ringabel's shoulder, though just barely, since the white of his outfit blends in with the white of the snow.

Still, it's a few moments before she's ready to leave the comfort of Ringabel's lap. It's worth the embarrassment of Tiz and Agnes's bemused smiles to hear Ringabel babble as she warms herself up all the way from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, tucking her feet under his knees.


	10. Flash

**"Wait right there, don't move!"**

"What?" Edea asked, stopping in her tracks. Was there something there? She wasn't exactly dressed for a fight.

"I said don't move," the man insisted, taking a few step down off the stairs, one of his hands out as though that would keep her from moving. She worried he'd trip and fall, and obediently stayed still to lessen the chances of him hurting himself.

As soon as his feet hit the landing, he threw open the bag at his side and started rummaging through it. Edea stared at him and took another step down, holding up the dress she was wearing with one hand.

"Wait!" Ringabel whined, not looking up. "It's - I just have to dig it out." She didn't even have a chance to ask what 'it' was before he found the item he'd been looking for and pulled it out with a cry of triumph. Immediately her face colored.

"Oh, no. You are not taking a photo of this!" She took another step.

Ringabel's face was just as red as he held the camera up in front of it, backing up some more. "I just want to - commemorate the moment, my dear. Make sure to preserve this memory forevermore. Edea, no! Just look at the camera and smile."

First he had convinced her, somehow, to go on a date with him. Then he'd wheedled her into the very pretty light blue dress that he insisted would bring out the blue of her eyes and look fantastic in the restaurant he'd reserved. Now this? "Mrgrgr,' Edea mumbled, but when he lowered the camera to give her the biggest puppy dog eyes he could muster, she found herself smiling all the same and holding still just long enough for the camera's flash to go off.


	11. Consolation

"Here you are. I've been looking for you, Edea," Ringabel said.

Edea looked up from where she had curled up in a ball on a cot in some random room on the Eschalot. She hadn't looked at the nameplate to see whose it used to be. All she knew was that it was empty.

"What do you want?" she asked him blankly. She'd stopped crying a while ago, but her chest still felt tight.

He took a seat on the other bunk. "I spoke with Agnès, and she said that you had run off earlier."

At the mention of the other girl, Edea felt her mood sour even more. "Did she tell you that we got into it again?" she asked him, trying not to tear up. With everything Agnès had been going through, and everyone she had just lost, Edea was trying her best to withstand the Vestal's bad moods and bitter remarks. Agnès's feelings were understandable, and Edea could have avoided some of them if only she'd been open and honest, so it was partially her fault. But earlier Agnès had made mention that Edea's father had likely sent her away if she was just as sneaky at home, and Edea hadn't been able to stand it. There had been shouting, attracting Tiz to try and settle things down between them, and he was so reluctant to say anything against Agnès that Edea had felt thoroughly attacked. She'd run away to hide in the abandoned quarters.

"She might have said that she was a bit harsh to you earlier," Ringabel admitted. "You've been gone for hours. We were beginning to get worried."

Edea wasn't sure she believed that Agnès was worried, but she appreciated his attempt. She rolled over to press her face back into the dusty pillow. "Well, I'm here. You can go now."

He was silent for a long moment. "Do you think I'll really leave you by yourself?" he finally asked. "Why don't you come here and we'll talk about it?" He patted the mattress he sat on.

She didn't really want to, come over to that bunk with him, or to talk about it. But he said nothing more as he waited for her, and after a few awkward moments, she finally slid off the cot she'd been crying into and slunk over to curl up beside him. Still, she hesitated before leaning against his side, allowing him to wrap an arm around her shoulder. Ringabel was warm. Even through the thickness of their clothing she could feel it spreading into her.

"She's just so… stubborn," she started mumbling, sliding an arm around his waist. "She was getting upset that I left my clothes on her side of the room last night, and I told her that I hadn't meant to, it was just really late and I was tired, and she said I was lying like I usually do. That I had trespassed on her space on purpose."

"Ouch. That's not right," Ringabel said soothingly. His hand rubbed at her shoulder.

It felt good to have someone take her side. She pressed her cheek to his side. "Thank you. I had only just missed the laundry basket. So I said I would move my things around, and she accused me of being sneaky and trying to go through hers for some reason, and then she - and then she…" Even repeating the mean things Agnès had said was making her tear up.

Ringabel waited until she was done letting indignant anger out through a fresh wave of tears. "She said that my father had likely sent me away if I was this sneaky at home, and I just couldn't take it. We started yelling."

"Did she really say something that?" Ringabel asked, surprised.

"I wouldn't make it up! Are you accusing me of being a liar, too?" Edea had been shocked to hear something so vicious out of the Vestal's mouth, but it was the truth. She'd spent the last couple of hours dwelling on the words.

"Not at all," he clarified, hand tightening on her shoulder. "It's just that… if she truly said that, that's very mean, and I'm very disappointed in her."

Ringabel's support was appreciated. She leaned against him further. "Tiz came downstairs, and he tried to calm things down but he was just… ugh, he's just as stubborn as she is. He wouldn't tell her to apologize, but told me that maybe Agnès hadn't meant to be so harsh."

"Agnès might not have meant to be harsh, but she was. That was not a nice thing for her to say," Ringabel commented. He had gone back to rubbing her shoulder. "I'm sorry that she said that to you. Do you want me to talk to her?"

His apology was ultimately meaningless. It wasn't from Agnès, after all. But it was still an apology, and some of her hurt feelings began to fade.

"No, don't. I just wanted to be alone. That's why I came down here; it felt like… no one wanted to be on my side." If she was going to be alone in arguments, then she might as well be alone while crying. Tiz had looked very sorry indeed when she'd started to tear up in front of them, and Agnès had begun to look startled, but she'd fled the scene before allowing them time to say anything, apologetic or otherwise.

"I'm always on your side, my dear," he said to her, his voice gentle. "Normally, I would say that this isn't about taking sides, but if someone is being mean to you for little reason, then I want you to know that you always have me."

"You're just saying that because you think you're in love with me," she mumbled.

Ringabel said nothing for a long, awkward moment. When he finally spoke, his voice had lost all of his flowery flourishes. "Edea. Regardless of the feelings I have toward you, it's not fair and it isn't right that you feel that you're alone on this ship. You are a very sweet, very kind girl and what happened to Olivia isn't your fault. Agnès is hurting right now, but that does not mean she has free reign to hurt others, especially you."

She pulled back to look at his face, which was uncharacteristically serious, his hazel eyes stormy. She swallowed hard. "Okay."

He offered her a smile now, gentle and warm. "Next time you need to get away, why not join me in the bridge? I dare say that my arms are a lot nicer to curl up into than a cold, dusty room."

Here was the Ringabel she knew and - she wouldn't say loved, but liked was a good word to use. "If I have to go to your arms, I'll pass," she decided, even as she curled up back into said arms. It was different right now.

Ringabel laughed. "At the very least, you can lounge on that old armchair in the room and complain to me all you'd like. I'm lonely sometimes on the bridge by myself. I'd like your company."

The armchair had been Holly's once, she thought with a pang. They had left it on the bridge, unsure of how to move it out, since it was wider than the doors. Still, it looked very comfy and she wondered how it might really feel to sit on it and tell Ringabel of her woes.

"I'll consider it," she replied, squeezing him around the waist. The heaviness in her chest was already beginning to dissipate, brought on by the warmth of his form against her own, and - and by the press of lips she felt now to the top of her head. Her cheeks flared hot. "Ringabel!"

"Just remember," he said as if he hadn't just kissed her. "That you're not alone on this ship, Edea. I'm always happy to be at your side when you need a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on."

"… Thanks," she said, mumbling. That did make her feel better. Ringabel and Tiz had been very careful not to get between the arguments between her and Agnès, but Ringabel had already demonstrated once or twice that Agnès couldn't get away with being cruel, ending conversations when they headed that way. He was being sincere, a welcome change.

So, Edea lifted her head and returned the kiss with one of her own right against his cheek, all tightness fleeing her at the red that bloomed across his cheeks.

"Thanks, Ringabel," she said again, and disentangled herself from him so that she could stand. "I'm hungry." How long had she been down here? Hours? And she had cried so much that she was likely dehydrated. Food and some water would be good.

Ringabel slowly stood, his face still bright. "Anytime, my dear. Why don't we get something to eat together? I haven't had a bite all day myself."

Edea found herself reaching for his hand so that she could tug him out of the old, musty room and up the stairs. "You should take breaks more often," she chided him. "Do you need me to bring you lunch? It wouldn't do for you to faint while you're steering the ship."

"I would never say no to a lunch delivered by an angel such as yourself," Ringabel said, and though she couldn't see him, leading him as she was, she knew that he was all better now. "I've a better idea. Why don't you come visit me more often so I can teach you what I know? I welcome your companionship."

"It's a deal," she decided easily. That'd be fun. She could bring Ringabel meals, and brush up on her airship piloting skills, and she wouldn't have to feel as alone anymore. Yeah, that would make everything all easier to bear.


	12. Bedtime Stories

Edea walked out into the lobby of the Grandship inn, a spring in her step and a bounce in her… she stopped in her tracks, staring over at Ringabel who was lounging on the couch in the lobby, his journal open on his lap. He still wore the same clothes from yesterday. That normally wouldn't be unusual, because when they traveled they didn't bring changes of clothes. But was most unusual was his hair - it was beginning to droop. His hair products could only last so long.

"Did you even sleep last night?" she asked him, concerned. He'd pulled all-nighters before, on and off, but he was _supposed_ to be limiting those to only when necessary! It wasn't safe to have a pilot who hadn't slept or a fighter who was exhausted. As far as Edea knew, there hadn't been any reason for him to stay awake throughout the night.

He looked up at her, his eyes drooping ever so slightly. Definitely tired.

"I'll sleep when I'm dead," he said, his lips quirking in a sad, self-deprecating smile. The smile quickly fell when she punched his arm.

"Don't even joke about that!" she snapped, remembering all too clearly the many times he had come close.

He rubbed at his arm. "I'm sorry. Forgive me."

She had just woken up and already she was tired of his bullshit. With a huff, she threw herself onto the couch beside him, drawing her knees up to her chest. Ringabel only just managed to move his legs out of the way of her wrath.

"Something's bothering you," she said. It wasn't a question.

He sighed. "Edea, my dear, I appreciate your concern. But _really_ \- " he didn't have a chance to finish his sentence before she tentatively reached out to touch his knee.

"If there's something bothering you, you should tell us," she told him. Ringabel had been keeping things weirdly bottled up for a while now. If he thought they hadn't noticed his change in behavior, then he was sorely mistaken. He was so quiet now, and so serious. She'd never thought she would miss the 'old' Ringabel, but she hadn't told him to shut up in weeks! It was just sad.

He flushed, red creeping up to the high points of his cheeks. "I thank you," he said, glancing away. "But I'm afraid there isn't much to tell."

"You could start with why you didn't sleep," she pointed out. "Bad dreams?"

He said nothing, which she took to mean yes.

"We all have those now and then," she reminded him. She'd woken Agnes up more than once by weeping in the middle of the night, and Agnes still sometimes cried out in her sleep as she relived the day her temple had been torn asunder by Darkness. Given that Ringabel was starting to remember his past, causing him to pass out in the middle of the day in pain, it was no wonder he was having problems sleeping. How long had this been going on? "If you want, you can tell Doctor Edea all about your bad dreams." And his memories. She was curious.

"Are you saying you want to play 'Doctor' with me?" he asked her, a familiar grin creeping across his face. "Edea, I'm flattered, but we're in public."

She smacked him on the leg.

"Any more of that and you'll need to see a real doctor," she said to him, standing and tugging at his hands. He stood with only a small amount of resistance. "Come on. Let's get you into bed." Now that he was standing, she could tell that he was only just barely hanging on. This wasn't healthy.

"I _said_ \- "

"Don't make this into something it's not!" she interrupted him, already knowing where he was going with it. It was an improvement from how sullen he'd been lately, so she would give him a pass this time. "If you get into bed, I'll sit with you until you fall asleep. You can tell me all about your bad dreams as you fall into them."

With his hands in hers, he couldn't hide his yawn. "Will you tuck me in, too?"

"Sure," she agreed. "And if you're good and promise to sleep for at least a few hours _and_ tonight, you'll get a goodnight kiss."

She shouldn't have promised that, because her cheeks were already blazing hot the second the words left her mouth. But the look he gave her, one that wasn't flirty but _grateful_ , his eyes growing bright with fondness, was almost worth it. They entered the room he shared with Tiz, long emptied when Tiz had left to prepare for the day.

"I promise," he said, and he sat heavily down on his bed. "Do I get the kiss now or later?"

"Later," she replied. Better give him something to look forward to. She watched as he kicked his shoes aside, tugged off his socks, and climbed into the covers of his bed, tugging them tightly over his form. He curled around his pillow, gazing up at her with tired eyes.

"Where shall I start, Dr. Edea?" he murmured, yawning loudly. He stretched out his covers, making a low noise of contentment.

"In the beginning, and work your way out," she suggested, pulling up one of the wooden chairs from the small table in the room. Tiz and Ringabel sometimes did handicrafts in their space, and needed a place to work that wasn't their beds. It meant easy access to a sitting surface that wasn't his bed.

"Mmm," he said, thinking. She hoped he'd fall asleep before getting too heavily into what was bothering him, but that he'd be refreshed enough to talk about it later. "I've been having flashes of memory now and then…" He trailed off, blinking long eyelashes. "Nothing that stands out, not yet… just a lot of darkness."

It was hard for him to talk as he grew more tired by lying down, but Edea had promised to sit by him and she did, as his words turned to mumbles turned to silence.

Only once she was sure he was actually asleep, when the creases in his eyebrows evened out along with his breathing, did she kiss his forehead. He'd never know.


	13. Beyond Tomorrow

There had to be some sort of record regarding this.

One day, Ringabel came back, tired and worn but so happy to be _home_.

She'd been working in the Council of Six room when she'd gotten the news, and had briefly considered jumping out of the window to reach the ground floor where he was waiting (with either Rampart or the Valkyrie's abilities, surely she would be fine). Alternis had prevented her from doing so, but the trip down the elevator had been full of anxiety for them both. The instant she saw Ringabel, standing there without his usual jacket, journal, or cocky grin, she had run into his arms and he had held her tight.

The next week they were married.

Ringabel had proposed to her the very same night that he returned, stating that he'd waited long enough to become her husband and that he didn't want to wait any longer. Edea had worried that the Planeswardens might call him back or move him to another world without a bond holding him to _hers_ , and she had also waited long enough for him. She'd accepted his hand and then told him that he was taking her last name, because she refused to be associated with the word Dim.

That was a given, he'd replied. He'd wanted to take her name for years.

They spent their honeymoon working, because the wedding itself was a small, private affair with two witnesses apiece and an appointment to the City Clerk on their lunch break. The ink wasn't even dried on their signatures on the wedding certificate before Ringabel swept her off her feet and carried her out of the office of the clerk, despite her screams and the laughter of Tiz and Agnes, Magnolia and Yew.

Their first night as a married couple, she banished him to the couch for that stunt. The second night, he curled up around her and kissed her senseless, driving away the fatigue brought on by being the Grand Marshal of a country that was going on through so many changes, too many changes.

"We've become the clingy newlyweds you've always complained about," Ringabel said to her the third night as they lounged together in bed. She had _tried_ not to bring work up to their quarters with her, but she had just one more report to read to prepare for a meeting the next day. Ringabel had been accompanying her to all her meetings and appointments since they had married, and while his help was appreciated, there were times he was very distracting. Still, he was her husband now. She liked spending time with him.

She hid a yawn and snuggled back against his side. He was a great pillow, and with the blankets heavy on her, she felt very cozy indeed. "Are you complaining? Because I can stop anytime." Maybe.

"I'm not complaining," he was quick to reply, following up his words with a kiss to the top of her head. He was still catching up on everything he had missed, but Edea could at least use him as a sounding board until he was fully up to speed. "I'm _enjoying_ myself. Are you?"

"I love you," she said, finding her cheeks heat up at the words. She had yet to get used to saying them.

"I love you too," he replied with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "That isn't the same as enjoying yourself."

She sighed. Ringabel was looking for reassurance that their marriage was not temporary madness on her part. Many people had questioned the quickness of it. Alternis had mentioned to her just that morning he'd heard citizens were making bets as to when she'd announce she was pregnant, as if that would come so soon. She and Ringabel hadn't even had sex yet.

Yet.

"Ringabel." She set aside her paperwork and sat up straight, twisting so that she could turn to look at him. He watched her warily, even as she took her hands in his.

"I married you for a reason, and not because I had to," she told him. "I married you because I want to, and because I've waited _so long_ for you to come home. Every _day_ , I wondered if it would be the day you would return, and I imagined what I would do, how many times I would punch you, then kiss you, then punch you again. I just wanted you to be home, and now that you are, you're staying here with me, at my side where I can _be_ with you. You're mine now, no takebacks."

His smile was more genuine now, sweet and gentle. "I've always been yours, Edea. From the very moment we met. You've had my heart for years, and now you have everything else of mine."

"Except for the name," she reminded him.

"Except for the name," he amended, nodded. "That is something you've given me, just one of many gifts that I cherish. You most of all. I'm just sorry that it took so long for me to accept them."

"It happens. We can't ignore our responsibilities, can we? We can set aside our personal feelings to do what's right. That's what I love about you." One of many things she loved about him, but now was not the time to wax poetic about all his good qualities. If he wanted _that_ , he would have to work for it.

"That's it?" he asked, teasing. "Only that?"

"There are a few other things, but I like to keep some secrets," she said and scooted forward to kiss him gently. "I'll tell you later if you're good."

"I'm always good," he tried to argue. She just smiled at him, and decided that now would be a good time to finish the report so they could sleep, if he was done being needy. She reached for the paper again, only to be stopped by him grabbing her arm.

"Darling," he said, his voice low. "Why don't you just wake up early tomorrow to finish work? We're on our honeymoon, aren't we? I'll show you just how good I can be."

The look in his eyes made her shiver. "Alright," she found herself agreeing readily. "Stay by my side until morning, and even beyond tomorrow."

If he'd thought they were clingy before, it was nothing compared to how she clung to him that night.


	14. The Dreams You See

Thank you so much for the review, Seiryuu! Please stay tuned for more fluffy stories, though this one isn't really one of them, ahaha.

 **Warning for slight gore and violence.**

* * *

Edea was dying and he could do nothing.

He was frozen where he stood, watching as the life bled out of his beloved, _again_. Agnès was trying to save her, but her White Magic was useless. Tiz poured out potion over potion, but nothing was effective in the face of Edea's impending death. She was quiet and pale, hair stuck to her face with blood, and all he did was stare as she slipped out the world and into a place he could not follow.

She finally went still, light leaving her eyes.

Then her skin turned a sickly shade of purple. Red veins pulsed across the surface of it, etching a horrifying pattern. As he watched, her eyes turned as black as night, bulging and hideous, and they turned to him. When she spoke, blood poured out her mouth as it split wide across her face, revealing dark teeth and a sinister smile.

"You killed me," the creature said as horns erupted from its head. The lithe body was expanding to many times its size, blood pulsating in bands around the rounding form. "You killed _them_." Agnès and Tiz were now laying at its feet, their bodies torn asunder by an evil force.

"I didn't!" he pleaded.

"You killed _her_ ," the beast shouted, and it advanced on him. One of its many thick arms reached to grab him, and beyond its mass, he could just barely see the shape of butterfly wings. "It's all your fault!"

"Please… no." He could do nothing but struggle as it began to strangle him, his hand tight around his throat, chasing his breath from him. He was being dangled over the side of the airship now, feet futilely kicking in the air as thousands of meters below, the ocean churned.

It let go and he fell from the skies to the ocean below.

Ringabel woke with a start, his heart pounding. Heat spread from his head to his chest and then to his stomach, followed by nausea. He could taste blood.

Tiz was stirring in the other bed. "Ringabel?" he called.

"I'm getting some fresh air," Ringabel replied, jittery and anxious. His blankets were tangled around his limbs, including a tendril of his sheets that had wrapped around his throat. He tugged it away now, shivering as he pulled himself from bed. His breath came out in shudders; the sweat on his skin made him too cool.

"You okay?" Tiz asked, sitting up now.

"Yes, yes," Ringabel replied impatiently. "Everything is fine, Tiz. Please go back some sleep. I think I just ate too much of that spicy seasoning tonight."

"I told you that you were overdoing it," Tiz murmured, but he said nothing more as he rolled back over to face away from Ringabel and the door, tugging his blanket over his shoulder. Ringabel breathed a sigh of relief.

He slept only in a pair of boxers and a tank top, and so now he grabbed an old robe to cover himself up. He usually only used the robe when fresh out of the shower, but unlike the girls, neither he nor Tiz owned dressing gowns. Perhaps they needed to.

Once decently covered, he slipped out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. The rest of the inn was dark, quiet. Only dim lanterns lit the hallway, to give them some light in the event they needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, as Ringabel did now.

He needed fresh air, to get out of the stifling air of the inn. It smelled like sweat and like people, and he was beginning to feel sick again.

Outside out on the deck, the air was fresh, if not chilly given the altitude, but the wind felt wonderful on his heated face and he turned toward it, letting it ruffle his hair and fill his lungs. It blew the tears from his cheeks.

He stood outside in the air for some time, letting the wind wash over him. It slowly, very slowly calmed his heart and his nerves. Whatever he had just dreamed, whether it be memory or nightmare, wasn't real. What was real was the feeling of the wind, the sound of the ship creaking around him, the ocean waves far below… just like it had been at that time.

Suddenly, he didn't want to be out on the deck. Shadows looked sinister and deep, and stains on the ship's deck looked red with blood. The shine of the moon felt overbright, burning into his skin. Ringabel felt bile rise into his throat, and turned to rush back into the inn, only just barely making it to tiny guest bathroom in the lobby where he emptied the pitiful remains of his stomach.

The quiet of the inn was stifling on his skin as he curled in on himself, tugging at his hair as tears of anger and frustration slipped down his face. He couldn't stand to be inside, didn't want to be outside… he was truly going mad, this time, wasn't he? If his memories were going to be so bothersome, maybe it would have been better if they had never begun to return.

"Ughh," he grumbled, stomach still twinging painfully as he dragged himself to his feet to rinse his mouth. This was getting ridiculous. He needed to fix himself, and he needed to fix himself fast.

He knew what to do.

Five minutes later, after washing his face and drinking some water, he tentatively slipped open the door to the girls' room and peeked in.

Agnès slept furthest away from the door, Airy's glow visible on the nightstand beside her. The fairy used a pile of fabric scraps and cotton filling as a bed, and she had muted the brightness of her glow with extra fabric, piled on her. It made for a very interesting night light that filled the gloom in the room.

It also was enough of a light that he could see Edea's blonde hair sticking out of her blankets, strewn across her pillow. Ringabel quietly shut the door behind him and approached Edea's bedside, his stomach twisting with anxiety. In the faint glow of the fairy's wings, she looked unnaturally pale and still, her face too serene. He felt his chest shudder as a fresh wave of pain overtook him, and his eyes darted over her form for any hint that she might be alive, that she was _actually_ breathing and -

Edea sighed in her sleep, shifting slightly. She tucked her hands under her head.

Ringabel swallowed hard, biting his lip to stifle any noise of relief that he made.

… after a few minutes of watching her sleep peacefully, he realized that he was being awfully creepy, and that he might not survive until morning if one of the girls were to wake. Still… with a bit of trepidation, he reached out to touch Edea's shoulder.

She was not easily woken, and it took more than a bit of nudging to force her awake. He braced himself for biting words, or the force of a fist as of her blue eyes opened, her body tensing. She snarled immediately, raising an arm with her fist balled up. "What is - oh. Ringabel. _Ringabel_." She settled down, lowering her hand even as she glared at him.

"Forgive me," he said, kneeling closer now that the threat of a punch was mostly gone. "I…" …. He was being foolish and clingy and stupid. "I should go," he decided, beginning to stand. She stopped him with a hand.

Edea let out a groan, her eyes shutting for a moment. "You already woke me up," she pointed out. "You might as well tell me what's going on. Has something happened?" Her eyebrows began to furrow as concerned flitted over her face.

"N-no," he said. "I just… I just…" How could he begin to explain the nightmare he'd had, and the resulting sadness? How much his chest was hurting at the thought of having failed his friends, and how the very air was heavy on his skin. He didn't want to be alone right now, but Tiz wasn't Ringabel's idea of a preferred bedmate, and Agnès was off-limits. "I can't sleep. I'm cold," he finally settled on.

She licked her lips, thinking for a long, awkward moment. "Keep your hands to yourself," she said, though there was no real bite to her words. "You can stay with me tonight, if you want."

She was an angel, a real one sent from the Heavens. He offered her a smile, his vision of her swimming. "I would desire nothing more."

Edea sighed and rolled away from the edge of the bed. "And don't be weird when you're in my bed!"

"I'm never weird," he replied, feeling a bit of life come back into his limbs as he lifted up the bedcovers and slipped under them. It was warm under the blankets, but a comforting warm. It chased out the chill in his limbs and in his stomach, filling him with a sense of ease. He wrapped his arms around himself, curling up on his side as he snuggled into the bed, facing away from her. Though perhaps his arms weren't as effective as another's might be, he could still sense Edea's warmth around her. Her scent clung to the pillow. This would get him through the night.

"You're always weird," Edea replied, her voice soft and quiet. "That's to be expected of you, though. We've grown to like it."

He smiled. "And? How have _you_ grown to feel about _me_?"

"Go to sleep, Ringabel," Edea said instead of answering his question. He could feel her wiggle towards him until her back pressed to his. Warmth raced up his spine, chasing out the last of the chill in his heart. He took a deep breath, words filling his lungs. He held his breath for a long moment, then…

He exhaled, deciding that _now_ was not the time to tell her everything that he wanted to say. "Goodnight," he settled on, closing his eyes. "Sleep tight, dear Edea."

Her only answering was a soft murmur as she slipped back into sleep. Ringabel followed soon after. Where before he had dreamt of blood and ash, now he dreamt of light and peace.


	15. Falling Stars

She was woken very rudely by a jostling to her shoulder, and it was only because her limbs were tangled in her blankets that she didn't punch whoever was interrupting her beauty sleep.

"Edea," he hissed. Ah, Ringabel. That made sense, and yet she thought he _had_ more sense. "Wake up and come with me. Hurry!"

"Ringabel," she grumbled, keeping her voice low. Agnes seemed to still be asleep in the other bed, and Edea didn't want to share the misery of a way-too-early morning just yet. "It's three in the morning…"

"I know," he whispered. "But you really must come with me!"

Uggggh… the world had better be ending. No, he'd wake up Agnes for that, wouldn't he? Probably. At his urging, she slowly rolled out of bed, reached for her dressing gown, grabbed it from him when he impatiently snatched it from the floor and held it out, and tugged the gown over her form. Then, she squinted at him in the dim light. "Where are we going?"

He took her arm in his and led her out of the room. Edea cast one last desperate glance back at Agnes, wondering if it was too late to make up a code for help. Code Ringabel could mean she was being roped it one of his crazy, weird schemes again and that Agnes would swoop in and rescue her and banish Ringabel to the naughty corner.

But there was no code, and Edea said nothing, and Ringabel successfully swept her out into the hall, where he shut the door tightly.

"You still haven't told me where we're going," she said to him, a little annoyed. Now more thoroughly awake, it was going to take her a while to go back to sleep once she managed to escape him.

"You'll see," he replied, giving her a brilliant smile. He was too energetic, given the time of day. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him.

"This isn't like… some nefarious plot to get me alone, is it?"

He laughed nervously. "Give me some credit! I wouldn't kidnap you from your bed in the middle of the night just for that." He was continuing to corral her down the hall and out into the lobby, where the front door was still open

"That's true. You're usually a little more - ooh!"

She stared up at the night sky, eyes wide, as Ringabel pushed her outside. Now that she could see the stars, she could also see the bright trails of light streaking across the sky.

"See?" he said, sounding smug. "You might've missed these!"

Edea stepped away from the light of the inn, still looking up at the sky with wide eyes at all the falling stars.

Ringabel appeared once more at her side, his hand gentle at her elbow. "Come here," he said quietly. "I have a blanket downstairs."

He'd laid a blanket out on the deck of Grandship, away from the bright lights of the pub or of the inn. Only the lanterns that dotted the perimeter were shining, and those were old and dim. Edea laid out on her back and stared up at the sky, watching silently as the bright lights appeared in a flash, burned brightly on their way to the horizon, and sped out of sight.

She was so entranced by the sight that she didn't even mind Ringabel holding her hand as he lay next to her.

"When I was a little girl," she said, when the movement of the stars began to slow. "My mother once told me that falling stars were for wishes. That if I wished upon one, that wish could certainly come true. I used to keep an eye out, every evening, just so that I might see one."

"Did you?" he asked.

"Once," she admitted. "I was with… a friend while we were up late in my room, and I looked outside and a star was falling. He and I made a wish together."

"A male friend?" Ringabel sounded offended. "Who was this?"

She ignored the question. "He never did tell me what he wished for."

"What did _you_ wish for?" he asked her, still sounding a little put out. She turned to look at him, not surprised to see that he was watching her instead of the sight in the heavens above.

"I didn't know what to wish for," she admitted. "I had so many things that I wanted! My mother to be healthy, my father to acknowledge me, my friend to be happy. In the end, I wished that I could have cake for dessert the next day."

His smile was easy to see, even in the dark. "Did it come true?"

"Yeah, it did! At the time, I thought it was just magic. Now, I realize it's probably because I told my friend about it, and he made the magic happen himself. That was sweet of him."

"It was sweet of you, to want so many things for others. You've always been so kind," Ringabel said.

Her cheeks heated up. "Don't say such things. Anyone would want to wish for the happiness of their loved ones." He was being silly, but his words were appreciated all the same.

"I suppose you're right. What about now? What do you want to wish for?"

Edea looked back up the stars. The shower was over, but now and then she could still see streaks across the sky. "I have too many wishes now," she laughed, and found herself squeezing his hand. "Where should I begin?"

For Tiz's recovery from his grief, for Agnes to succeed in her quest, for Ringabel to regain his memory, for her father to be a good person again, for her mother to be cured, for Alternis to be the kind boy she remembered him to be.

"Help me," she said finally.

"What?"

"Between you and me, we can think of enough wishes to fill the sky," she told him, once more turning her head to him.

"I have only one wish," he told her, looking thoughtful. By now, her eyes had adjusted to the light level. She could see him clearly.

"Are you going to tell me?" she asked, though she felt she already knew his answer. What were the chances that his wish had to do with her?

The chances were one hundred percent. He smiled at her, and despite the small chill in the air, given the elevation, she felt warm all over. "I wish for you to find love, and someone who makes you happy."

"Really? Nothing about your memories?" She knew that Ringabel could be sappy, but _really_. Common sense! Surely he had a little!

"I'll recover them eventually, I'm sure," he argued. "What concerns me most is your future. I want you to be happy, Edea. I'd like nothing more."

There was no arguing with a sentimental fool. "We have more than enough stars for you to wish for both with extra to spare," she informed him. "Let's get started."

"Very well," he agreed, and he tore his eyes from her to look up at the dark sky. "Tell me your wishes later, will you?"

She wouldn't tell him all of them, because so many of them would involve him, but she supposed she could tell him the others. She had enough to fill the night sky.


	16. Reflections

She still wasn't sure how she felt about Ringabel.

He was… weird. Weird was the nicest way to put it, though he protested the description, calling himself 'perfectly normal in every way'. He was wrong, of course. There was nothing normal about him.

He had amnesia, for one, which was admittedly concerning on top of also being weird. Whoever heard of someone losing all their memories so completely! She and Tiz and Agnès had all tested him multiple times, but he was like a child, albeit one who had the skills to pilot an airship. He knew left and right, up and down. He knew the names of flowers, various creatures, and what the months were. But he didn't know what continent Eisenberg was on, or that Eternia had only two seasons. Sometimes, she wondered if he was from a different planet altogether, except for the fact that he knew nothing about his past, not even something as simple as his real name.

Then, he had that ridiculous prophetic journal that he claimed had led him to them all, and would help them on their journey to awaken the crystals. The journal that also contained some very ridiculous and almost embarrassingly intimate thoughts toward her. Edea had read through it, multiple times, and she still didn't know where this all was coming from. She had her suspicions, but it made little sense, especially because there were dates in the journal that had yet to pass, and also because the only person she could have linked the journal to was also the type of person who did not have tender feelings, and also would likely not commit said tender feelings to paper.

Finally, his looks. Edea sometimes hated how Ringabel looked. He was _too_ attractive, with those high cheekbones that brought attention to his bright hazel eyes that looked like they shifted color depending on what he wore. His easy, warm smiles also brought attention to the sparkling of his eyes and also to his bright white teeth. He was tall and slender, but when one day the four of them had decided to cool off by swimming in a small river, she had been terribly distracted by how muscular he actually was under all his clothes, with thick thighs and biceps that had bulged slightly when he'd picked her up and thrown her into the water. Only the fact that he insisted on styling his hair in the most ridiculous pompadour that she, or anyone else, had ever laid eyes upon kept him from being overwhelmingly good looking. No, the hair just added to his weirdness.

Perhaps, though, the weirdest thing about him was how he _watched_ her. Edea had long grown used to feeling eyes on her, thanks to her father and the people who wanted to scrutinize her because of him, but the way Ringabel watched her was different. It was always at times when apparently he thought perhaps that she wouldn't catch him. When they were eating, and she was across the room sitting with Agnès, or late at night when they had camped outside and it was his turn on watch. More than one she had turned him and there he was, gazing at her, almost lost in thought. When she asked him to stop staring, he had moved onto other methods of keeping his eyes on her.

"I can see you watching me in the window, you creep," she said to him without turning in Eisenberg one day.

The colors in the reflection were muted, but she could see him turn red all the same. He got flustered every time she caught him looking. "I… er…"

" _Ugh_!" she said, turning to him and tapping him strongly on the chest with her fist. He took a step back but did not defend himself; his arms were full of the many packages and bags that contained the supplies they'd purchased. "What is _with_ you?" she demanded.

"I beg your pardon?" he winced, looking uncomfortable. People were starting to stare at the both of them.

"Well? Out with it!"

Ringabel fidgeted under her gaze, the red in his cheeks spreading to his ears. "I don't mean to," he replied, his voice quiet. "I just… enjoy watching you, Edea." When he saw the way her lip curled in disgust, he hastened to clarify. "Not - not _watching_ you, Edea. Looking at you! Gazing upon you!"

She cracked her knuckles. "Keep digging that grave, buddy." She wasn't _actually_ going to kill him, oh no, not when she needed him to carry everything, but she did want him to sweat a little, and maybe then he would stop being so creepy, especially in public!

"Seeing you, so warm and happy and full of life-" he babbled, hazel eyes darting down to her clenched hands and back up, "-it makes me happy in turn. I feel peaceful when I see your smile."

Edea had been ready to grab his ear and drag him that way all the way back to the inn, but she halted in her tracks, hand already raised to his face. "What?"

He gave her a smile - not one of the practiced, smooth ones, but one that was full of nervousness and tinged with healthy fear, a _real_ smile that made her heart do a tumble and her hand lower, where her knuckles brushed the fur of his jacket. "You're lovely, Edea. That loveliness shines from both within and without, and I can't keep my eyes off it. I know you don't like me to watch you, but I can't help myself. Seeing you calms my heart."

One of their bystanders tittered, and it was now Edea's turn to flush red.

She grabbed Ringabel's arm. "Keep your eyes to yourself for now," she muttered as she yanked him away from the window and its reflections.

"Ah, but when you touch me so, my heart pounds in my chest!" he replied as he first stumbled, then kept pace with her. "Are you saying I may watch you later, perhaps when we're alone?"

"How can you watch me if I blacken your eyes?" she threatened, elbowing him viciously in the side.

"You wound me, my angel."

She wouldn't blacken his eyes this time, she decided as their pace slowed, her arms threaded through his. But next time he decided to be weird, she would seriously consider it.


End file.
